Putting the plan into effect, with everyone separating into the following four groups: Traude was with Brianna and Barbara, Ottilie was with Dorothea and Bridget, Daniela was with Nadja and Beate was with Gerlinde. Each group was given one flare to aid in distracting Smaug. At the moment, Traude, Brianna and Barbara were on one of the endless numbers of bridges and making their way towards the towering structure built into the rock wall that once served as a housing complex. But as they continued running across the bridge, they heard an all too familiar sound and stopped dead in their tracks. Smaug's gigantic claws scraped against the rocks as he emerged from a rather large cave. He caught sight of Brianna, Barbara and Traude and laughed sadistically as he climbed up towards them.
"Flee. Flee, you fools!" he laughed "Run for your lives. Don't you see?" he paused for just a moment as his head stretched out towards the trio "There is nowhere to hide."
"Hey! Over here, ugly!" cried out a voice.
Smaug turned to his right to see Ottilie, Dorothea and Bridget on a nearby bridge with Dorothea waving a flare back and forth. It seemed to work as Smaug became irritated with the flare constantly going back and forth, over and over again. The three girls quickly beat feet towards where they came, with Smaug following them in anger while Traude, Brianna and Barbara dashed for the end of the bridge. And as Smaug closed in on Bridget, Dorothea and Ottilie as they got closer to the passageway, Daniela and Nadja appeared to Smaug's left and then Daniela lit up her flare and began waving it out.
"Hey, you! Come and get us!" she screamed.
Smaug whipped his head towards the two and roared angrily at them as he hurtled himself forward. But they'd already ran towards the entrance and managed to escape as Smaug's claws as his left wing hit the bridge. He growled in irritation but then suddenly heard someone cry out and he turned to his bottom right to see Beate and Gerlinde running into a crack in the rock wall.
"You wretched little bastards!" he roared as he lunged towards them.
When he hit the bridge leading to the rock crack, he took a deep breath as his chest lit up and then blasted an ocean of fire into the tunnel, incinerating anything that wasn't rock, including bats and other cave animals unfortunate to get caught in the fire's path. Beate and Gerlinde were still running down the tunnel when they looked behind and saw the fire coming towards them like a tsunami wave. They both quickened their pace and began running faster but the fire drew ever closer. And then, just in time, they spotted a doorway in the wall. At lightning speed they turned towards the door and got inside just as Smaug's fire engulfed where they would have been standing. They looked on from the safety of the tunnel in awe as the fire passed by. As soon as the fire dissipated, they turned around, decided taking this short cut was the best method and ventured further into the tunnel. They ran through the vast tunnels of Erebor which seemed to go on for an eternity. They'd managed to make make-shift torches so they could at least see where they were going. As they ventured further down the tunnels, they could hear the howling of wind and feel a gentle breeze blowing through their hair. They were getting closer to the entrance. They then heard a loud commotion just ahead and stopped dead in their tracks near the entrance as Traude, Brianna and Barbara emerged from a nearby doorway to their left.
"You made it!" Gerlinde chuckled in bafflement.
"So did you." Brianna said.
"Traude!" called out a voice "Are you there?!"
"Yes!" Traude responded.
"Come over here!" replied the voice.
All five of them turned quickly to look just ahead to see a shaft of light purplish-blue light pouring from an exit to the right. They ran towards it and soon reached the exit. It turned out to be an entry-way into a truly gigantic yet empty hallway. Light poured in from the front entrance of Erebor which was just a turn down the hall. Great stone pillars stood almost fifty-two feet tall and twenty feet wide on both sides and atop them were walkways containing more pillars though these were slightly thinner then the base ones and were spread a little further apart to provide room for the walkways. Up above, the mountain rock provided the roof, with some stone stalactites pointing downwards to the floor. And leading to this hall-way was the great throne room of Erebor which the girls had just passed. The wind howled through the empty hall in a gentle yet ghostly manner. Upon reaching the door, the girls looked just ahead and saw the rest of the group in the middle of the hallway: Bridget, Daniela, Dorothea, Nadja and Ottilie. The voice that had called out to them was Ottilie's. Brianna, Traude, Barbara, Gerlinde and Beate rushed over to them all as quickly as possible and soon they all were together in the middle of the hallway, with Bridget giving Beate a massive hug.
"I'm so glad you're safe!" Bridget proclaimed happily.
"And I'm glad." Beate wheezed "But could you please let me go now?"
"Oh, so sorry." Bridget chuckled as she let go of her cousin.
"Okay, we don't have much time so I'll make this quick." Traude said "Daniela, do you have what we need?"
"Yes we do." Daniela replied pointing towards the end of the hallway where it turned to the left "It's down that hall."
"Good." Traude continued "Alright, he's bound to find us soon so we have to move."
All of a sudden, there was a loud thumping noise that reverberated through the hall. Everyone turned to look towards the throne room behind them as the noise got louder. It was Smaug. A rather loud roar just seconds confirmed it.
"Okay, everyone, go!" Traude ordered loudly.
As the girls ran towards the second hallway to take their positions Traude quickly grabbed Brianna's arm and held her back much to Brianna's shock.
"No Brianna." Traude said "You find cover. Stay as far away as you can."
"I want to help!" Brianna barked.
Suddenly Smaug roared an even louder roar than before as the two looked behind them to see him appear faintly amidst the darkness of the throne room but they could see his chest glowing in the dark along with his eyes.
"THIEVES!" he bellowed.
"Brianna, there's no time to argue!" Traude yelled as she let go of Brianna and headed down the hall where the others had gone "Go now!"
Brianna didn't hesitate to run as she scrambled for the pillars just as Smaug's footsteps became louder and louder. She ducked behind the nearest pillar just as Smaug burst through the wall of the throne room sending rocks and debris flying forward as he lurched forward himself with his eyes searching for the girls.
"I know you're here, underling." Smaug said as he walked down the hall past Brianna. "I can smell you."
Brianna did her best to stay quiet as sweat slid down her face while she resisted the urge to put the ring on. She knew she'd be seriously screwed if she put it on because Smaug had smelled it when she had it on in the treasure room. But Smaug then did something unexpected. He stopped and smelled the air again.
"Wait a minute….you have another scent." he said before he stopped for a few seconds as it clicked in his brain "The scent of lake water and fish! You have come from Lake-town!" he went on as his tongue flicked out like a snake's "Of course! This is some scheme hatched between these filthy dwarves and those miserable lake-men! Those sniveling cowards with their longbows and black arrows! If they think they can steal my-"
Then Smaug stopped himself as an idea came into his head. It was worthless to try and stop these dwarves and whatever the hell this burglar was. But then there was Lake-town. Everything was made of wood. Highly flammable wood. All they had were insignificant bows and arrows, fishing nets and boats. They were on a lake anyway. Where could they go? Nowhere. Not from his fire. He'd destroyed Dale so long ago and that had buildings made of stone. Yet now it was a mere shadow of it's former self. Desolate and covered with snow. A smile came across Smaug's face as he went through the plan in his head.
"You know, it's been a while since I've flown around the land. I need to stretch my wings." he finally said "Besides, I think it is time I paid them a visit."
Brianna gasped in horror at the implications of what Smaug was planning to do. Without thinking, she stepped out from her hiding place as Smaug ventured further down the hall.
"This isn't their fault!" she called out "Wait! Don't go to Lake-town! Leave them be!"
Smaug stopped walking and then turned his head towards Brianna, his eyes glowing eerily like they were on fire themselves.
"You care about them, do you?" he snarled as he moved his head and neck towards Brianna who began backing away "Good. Then you can watch them die."
Brianna stood in total fear and shock as Smaug turned away from her and began making his way down the hall to his right which led to the main entrance of Erebor. Suddenly a loud bang sound echoed through the empty hall.
"Hey!" yelled a woman's voice "Over here, you bastard!"
Smaug whipped his head round to look behind him and there, just across the hall behind him (the left hall where the girls had run specifically) sitting on a ledge was Traude, looking determined with a large hand-held firework propped up next to her feet and what looked like a pistol in her left hand. The other girls stood to her right as well, with Beate, Gerlinde, Barbara and Ottilie armed with bows and arrows with flash-flame bombs attached to the arrows and with Dorothea, Nadja, Bridget and Daniela manning their own rockets.
"There you are." Smaug hissed.
"Yes!" Traude replied "And I'm taking back what you stole!"
Smaug then began walking towards her, his footsteps causing a faint rumble. He then did something unexpected. He started…chuckling. A disturbing, raspy laugh.
"You will take nothing from me, dwarf." he chuckled. "I laid low your warriors of old. I wiped whole cities off the face of the earth. I instill terror in the hearts of men." he paused a moment as he then began looking rather angry "I am king under the mountain."
"This is not your kingdom, serpent!" Traude responded as she pulled out a match "This is a dwarf kingdom! This is dwarf gold! And we will have our revenge!"
She then yelled out something in dwarvish, igniting the match and igniting the rocket fuse. As she did so, the rest of the girls lit their own matches and ignited the fuses to the rockets and flash bombs. Beate, Gerlinde, Barbara and Ottilie then launched their arrows seconds before the rockets blasted towards the cave roof with a loud whoosh noise. To Smaug's astonishment, they hit the roof and with a deafening series of explosions caused the entire wall to shake as if the whole mountain would collapse in on itself and start crumbling downwards. Smaug looked absolutely flummoxed and quickly began lighting up his chest as he stared at the girls who immediately ran for cover. But it proved too little too late as before Smaug could breathe his fire the rocks slammed onto him, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get back up but more debris and rock fell on top of him and soon in a massive cloud of dust and an avalanche of rock, Smaug was completely buried in stone, rock and granite. The dust swirled past Brianna who was safely hidden behind a pillar and she coughed heavily as some of the dust went into her throat. But soon a deathly silence fell upon the hall as the dust subsided revealing a massive pile of rocks that was just a mere six feet from being the height of the ledge the girls had been on. It covered half of the hallway and ended where Brianna was hiding which was at the hallway's center. The girls emerged from their hiding place (which was a nearby tunnel entrance) and out onto the ledge, looking on at the great pile of stone and rock.
"We did it!" Ottilie laughed.
Everyone else, however, stayed silent. It had proved easier than they expected. In fact…it was too easy. Dragons had never been known to go down easy, especially when they were the size of Smaug. The silence didn't help the situation either. There then was a faint crumbling sound as they looked down at the rock pile and noticed some of it had started to move. Now even Ottilie was overcome with concern. Brianna, meanwhile, peeked from behind the pillar where she was and saw a faint glow emanating from the edge of the pile. That could only mean one thing and one thing only.
Without warning and with an explosion of fire and rock that was thrown forward like pebbles Smaug burst out of the mound of rock, roaring as he did so with the pile collapsing in on itself as he stumbled forward, snarling in anger. His self-control was gone now and he was now angrier than ever before with his rage passing description. He coughed two hacking coughs which caused some blood to spurt from his mouth. He had lost at least five of his teeth and the blood was from his gums. His skin was barely affected by the rocks save for a bruise here or there, with it being covered in dirt and dust. He whipped his head around to look towards the girls who looked on in dumbfounded horror, with Smaug's eyes looking like that of a killer.
"REVENGE?! YOU CALL THAT REVENGE?!" he roared so loudly that he knocked the girls to their feet "I WILL SHOW YOU REVENGE, YOU DWARF WENCH!"
He roared in rage as he turned and ambled towards the entrance to Erebor. The girls could sit and watch in pure shock as he soon reached the door and breathed a gigantic wave of fire against the entrance and with an explosion of fire, stone, dust and snow Smaug emerged from his hiding place of sixty years and propelled himself into the sky. It proved difficult for him as he was understandably massive and snow was covering the ground from the heavy snowfall which had begun about two hours ago. But he managed to propel himself into the air, with him doing an aerial spin as the snow swirled around him as he straightened his flight path, spread his wings and started heading to Lake-town. He felt proud of himself. Those foolish dwarves thought they could kill him. But he proved them wrong. And now there was Lake-town. To him, Lake-town and it's people were like ants that could easily be swept away and forgotten. As he soared over the ruined Dale and the flat, snow-covered landscape around the mountain, his shadow blocked out the moon as he increased his speed. As he did this, he couldn't help but gloat to himself.
"I am fire!" he roared mightily "I am…DEATH!"
UPDATE: Late Christmas gift for everyone whose stuck with the story. COVID pandemic really messed up my writing schedule and overall creativity, hence the lack of updates. Hope this can tide you over till next update! Merry Christmas!